I tested 7 EngageBay alternatives in 2025 (Here’s what I found)

All-in-one platforms like EngageBay seem like a perfect fit for small and medium businesses. The promise is great: get your marketing, sales, and support tools in one place, clean up your tech stack, and save some cash. But what happens when that dream tool starts to feel more like a compromise? Maybe your emails aren't landing in inboxes, or the "automation" feels a bit, well, dumb. You start wondering if there's a better way.

That's exactly how I ended up spending weeks elbow-deep in demos and free trials. I’ve been testing the top EngageBay alternatives for 2025, digging into their features, AI smarts, and pricing. My mission was simple: find platforms that actually deliver on the all-in-one promise with better reliability, smarter automation, and a price that doesn’t punish you for growing.

Here’s what I learned.

What is EngageBay?

EngageBay is an all-in-one CRM platform aimed at small to medium-sized businesses that don't have a massive budget. It packs marketing, sales, and customer service tools into one subscription. Think of it as a central hub for managing contacts, sending email campaigns, automating sales tasks, and handling basic support tickets without the enterprise-level price tag.

Why look for EngageBay alternatives?

While EngageBay is a solid starting point for many, businesses often hit a ceiling and start looking around. The low price is a big draw, but it comes with a few trade-offs that become harder to ignore as you grow.

Things break, especially email

One of the most common grumbles I heard about EngageBay was about reliability. Email deliverability, in particular, seems to be a sore spot. People have run into serious problems with campaigns getting bounced because of IP reputation issues on EngageBay's side. When you can't count on your main communication channel, it's a huge blow to your marketing and your customers' trust.

Stay away from EngageBay if you need reliability of email delivery and automations. It greatly pains me to submit this comment, as EngageBay has a lot going for it, and I was an advocate for it for some time. However its email deliverability is riddled with problems - seemingly through EngageBay's choice of email/IP providers - and EngageBay just does not seem to take that problem seriously...This lack of reliability has rendered those automations all but useless.

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The automation isn't very smart

EngageBay has automation features, but they’re not quite the intelligent, AI-powered workflows you see in more modern tools. The rules are pretty basic and don't really learn from your company's specific data. In a world where AI can draft customer replies, sort tickets, and handle complex jobs, a platform with limited smarts can feel like it's holding you back.

Growing with it gets expensive, fast

The pricing can make it tough to scale your business. Key features like more advanced automation or custom reports are often locked away in the priciest plans. This means you might have to make a huge jump in price just to get one feature you really need, which suddenly makes the "affordable" platform not so affordable anymore.

The interface can be a bit clunky

Finally, some folks just don't jive with the user interface. A clunky design can slow your team down, make simple tasks take longer, and create a headache when you’re trying to train new hires.

How I picked the best EngageBay alternatives

To keep things fair, I judged every platform on four things that really matter to a growing business.

• Smart AI and Automation: I looked for tools that do more than just check boxes. The best ones use AI to learn from your data, make your team more efficient, and handle tricky workflows with real intelligence.

• Easy to Get Started: How fast can you actually start using the thing without sitting through hours of mandatory training? I’m a big fan of tools that are intuitive and self-serve from the get-go.

• Plays Well with Others: A great platform has to connect to the tools you already use. I focused on software that easily integrates with your helpdesk, knowledge bases, and other key apps.

• Clear Pricing: Nobody likes surprise bills. I looked for platforms with straightforward pricing that gives you good value, without hidden fees like charges for every ticket you solve.

The top 7 EngageBay alternatives at a glance

A deep dive into the 7 best EngageBay alternatives of 2025

Let's get into the details of each platform, covering what they do best and where they might not be the right fit.

1. eesel AI

Okay, eesel AI is a bit different from the others here. It's not trying to be another all-in-one CRM. Instead, it’s a specialized AI tool that focuses on automating customer support and managing knowledge, which are two areas where all-in-one platforms often feel the weakest. It connects directly to your current helpdesk (like Zendesk or Freshdesk) and pulls together all your knowledge from places like Confluence, Google Docs, and past support tickets to give instant, accurate answers.

It's the perfect fix for EngageBay’s weak automation problem because it offers a powerful, self-learning AI that actually understands your business. The setup is refreshingly simple, you can get it running in minutes with one-click integrations. What really caught my eye was its ability to train on your past tickets, so it learns your company's tone and solutions right from the start. Plus, its simulation mode is a fantastic feature. It lets you test the AI on your old tickets to see how well it works before you even go live. No guesswork involved.

A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation feature, which provides a safe testing environment for users exploring EngageBay alternatives.

• Pros: Super simple self-serve setup, brings all your scattered knowledge together instantly, and works with your existing helpdesk so you don't have to switch. The pricing is also transparent, with no sneaky per-resolution fees.

• Cons: It's not a full sales or marketing CRM. Its job is to automate support and unify knowledge, and it does that one thing extremely well.

• Pricing: eesel AI's pricing is based on AI interactions, not how many users you have. The Team plan is $299/month ($239/mo if billed annually) for up to 1,000 interactions. The Business plan is $799/month ($639/mo annually) for 3,000 interactions and adds great features like training on past tickets and AI actions for sorting new tickets. All plans include the core AI Agent, Copilot, and Triage products.

2. HubSpot

HubSpot is the big name in this space for a reason. It offers a massive, feature-packed suite for marketing, sales, and service. It’s a great fit for businesses that are ready to scale and have the budget to invest in a serious CRM.

Its free CRM is one of the best out there, but the real magic is in the paid plans. The visual workflow builder is fantastic, and it integrates with just about everything. But all that power has a pretty hefty price tag.

• Pros: Packed with features, has amazing integrations, and lets you build powerful, multi-channel automation workflows.

• Cons: It gets very expensive, very fast. The price jump from the Starter to the Professional plan is huge, and the higher-tier plans come with mandatory onboarding fees that cost thousands of dollars.

We were quoted 1k per month today... 2 [users]. I was a little shocked to be honest.

Reddit

• Pricing: HubSpot sells different "Hubs" (Marketing, Sales, etc.). The Starter CRM Suite bundle starts at $18/month (billed annually). The Professional plan, where you get most of the advanced automation tools, starts at a steep $800/month and tacks on a $3,000 one-time onboarding fee. The Enterprise plan kicks off at $3,600/month with a $7,000 onboarding fee.

3. ActiveCampaign

For any business focused heavily on email marketing and automation, ActiveCampaign is a powerhouse. Its ability to create complex, branching automation flows based on what users do is top-notch. If EngageBay's automation limitations are your biggest headache, ActiveCampaign is definitely worth a look.

While it does have CRM and sales tools, its main strength is in nurturing leads and talking to customers through highly personalized, automated campaigns.

• Pros: Best-in-class marketing automation, powerful customer segmentation, and a solid sales CRM.

• Cons: It isn't a true all-in-one because it doesn't have a built-in helpdesk. The interface can also take a bit longer to learn because it's so packed with options.

• Pricing: ActiveCampaign’s pricing is based on how many contacts you have. The Plus plan (the first one with CRM features) starts at $49/month for 1,000 contacts. The Pro plan starts at $149/month, and you'll need to talk to them for Enterprise pricing.

4. Zoho CRM Plus

If you want a true all-in-one platform that's as cheap as EngageBay but more powerful, Zoho CRM Plus is tough to beat. It bundles more than a dozen of Zoho's business apps into one subscription, covering everything from CRM and helpdesk to social media and analytics.

The value is wild; you get a huge range of tools for a very low price. The only catch is that it can sometimes feel like you're jumping between a bunch of different apps instead of using one seamless platform.

• Pros: You get an incredible number of features for your money, with tools for pretty much every part of your business.

• Cons: The user experience isn't always consistent across the different apps, and the sheer number of options can be a bit much to take in.

• Pricing: Zoho CRM Plus keeps it simple: $69/user/month billed monthly, or $57/user/month if you pay annually. That one price gets you the whole suite.

5. Freshsales Suite

Freshsales Suite, part of the Freshworks family, is a direct competitor to EngageBay that wins a lot of points for its clean design and ease of use. It brings sales, marketing, and support tools together in a way that feels modern and intuitive.

Its AI assistant, Freddy, helps with scoring leads and offering insights on deals, which is a nice step up from EngageBay's more basic features. It's a great pick for small and medium businesses that want an all-in-one their team will actually like using.

• Pros: Clean and modern interface, AI-powered lead scoring, and a good mix of features for sales and marketing.

• Cons: It doesn't have the deep AI automation of specialized tools like eesel AI, and it has fewer integrations than a giant like HubSpot.

• Pricing: This one is a bit tricky. Freshworks has taken down the public pricing page for Freshsales. They used to list plans starting around $9/user/month, but now you have to contact their sales team or sign up for a trial to get the details. It’s a bit of a shame they don't list prices upfront, which can make quick comparisons tricky.

6. Brevo

Brevo (which used to be Sendinblue) is all about reaching customers on whatever channel they prefer. It handles email, SMS, WhatsApp, and live chat marketing, making it a genuine omnichannel communication hub.

It has CRM and automation features, but its real talent is as a communication tool. If your main goal is to connect with customers across different channels, Brevo is a great option with a very generous free plan to get you started.

• Pros: A great "free forever" plan and true omnichannel tools with SMS and WhatsApp built right in.

• Cons: The CRM and sales automation tools are more basic than what you'll find on other platforms in this list.

• Pricing: Brevo’s Free plan gives you up to 300 emails per day. The Starter plan is $8.08/month for 5,000 emails. The Standard plan, which adds marketing automation and A/B testing, starts at $16.17/month.

7. BIGContacts

Sometimes, less really is more. BIGContacts is for teams who feel that most all-in-one platforms are bloated with features they’ll never touch. It focuses on doing one thing really well: managing contacts. It gives you a simple, clean CRM to track contacts, tasks, and conversations without any fluff.

If all you need is an easy-to-use system to keep customer relationships organized, BIGContacts is a refreshingly simple and affordable choice.

• Pros: Very easy to use, super affordable, and sticks to the core CRM features you actually need.

• Cons: It doesn't have advanced automation, marketing tools, or a helpdesk. It’s strictly a contact management tool.

• Pricing: BIGContacts offers a Free plan for up to 100 contacts. The paid Business plan is just $9.99/month for 1,000 contacts when you pay annually, making it one of the most budget-friendly options out there.

Feature comparison of the top EngageBay alternatives

How to choose the right EngageBay alternatives for your business

Feeling a bit lost in all the options? Don't sweat it. Here's a simple way to think through the decision.

Start with your biggest pain point

First off, what's actually driving you crazy? Are your marketing emails not getting delivered? Is your sales pipeline a total mess? Or is your support team drowning in the same questions over and over? Don't just switch platforms for the sake of it. Pick a tool that is great at fixing your most urgent problem.

Enhance, don't just replace

Let's be honest, ripping out your entire system and starting over is a painful and risky project. Instead, look for tools that can make what you already have better. For example, a tool like eesel AI adds a powerful AI layer on top of the helpdesk your team already uses. You solve your biggest automation problems without having to go through a massive migration.

Test with your real-world scenarios

Every platform on this list has a free trial, and you should definitely use them. But take it one step further. Look for tools that let you test with your actual data. A feature like a simulation mode is incredibly valuable because it shows you the potential results using your own history, so you know what you’re getting into before spending a dime.

Look beyond the starting price

The cheapest plan isn't always the best deal. Watch out for pricing that can balloon unexpectedly. Per-user fees get expensive as your team grows, and per-resolution fees basically penalize you for being successful. Flat-rate pricing based on usage often gives you a more predictable and scalable cost in the long run.

A smarter way to handle customer support

While many EngageBay alternatives offer a new spin on the all-in-one CRM, the biggest opportunity for most businesses to get more efficient is by automating customer support with genuinely smart AI. Generic chatbots and simple automation rules aren't enough anymore.

Instead of just swapping one platform for another, think about adding an intelligent AI layer that works with the tools you already have. With a tool like eesel AI, you can bring all your company knowledge into one place, connect it to your helpdesk in minutes, and start automating frontline support immediately. It’s not about switching; it’s about working smarter.

Ready to see how AI can resolve support tickets without making you change your helpdesk? Try eesel AI for free or book a personalized demo to see how it works.